Re: upgrade?

["N. Sivin" nsivin@xxxxxxxx]

JP Newport asks about upgrading to v. 4. This topic has been discussed
at *great* length over the past couple of years. Anyone who wants to
know the many differences will do well to download the archived messages
and browse them.

As for the differences between XY and XW: The two programs are
remarkably similar in most respects. You can use pretty much the same
extensively customized keyboard, the same XPL programs, etc. XW contains
a few extra XPL commands, mostly to control Windows functions. There is
no notable difference in speed under the same OS. The file format is the
same except for a couple of XPL codes that most people will never use.
No two people will agree, but after going round the block many times on
this issue, I would see these as the main issues governing a decision:

1. First and most important, can you stand Windows? Do you like it,
consider it a necessary evil to get some things done, or hate it? The
other issues flow from this.

2. Do you want the wide range of screen and printer fonts that become
available when Windows controls the printer? A big issue for many of us
is that XW has an exceptionally ugly screen font for draft mode. For
some dumb reason, the typeface can't be changed as that of most Win
programs can. Some people solve the problem using 3d-party fonts, but my
hardware (and perhaps yours) does not make that possible. On the other
hand, XW is much better for editing in WYSIWYG mode than XY. Obviously
it is a good idea to try out a computer that has both installed.

I use both. I usually draft in XY because I prefer the simplicity and
legibility of draft mode. But if I had to choose only one, I would
probably keep XW. I tend to use XW for files with tables, graphics,
imported files, etc.

3. Not a small issue is that some of the command-line extension packages
put together by Tim Baehr, Robert Holmgren, Carl DiStefano, and others,
which considerably extend the power of XY and simplify further
customization, are designed for XY and do not work fully in XW. These
are such remarkable additions that they are likely to be a factor in the
choice of anyone who likes to exploit the program's customizability. But
if you aren't already using A.D.P. Fisher's programs for XY3, this will
hardly appeal to you.

4. Another difference is that going back & forth between Windows
programs is
*somewhat* easier with XW. It's not ideal, because, e.g., it uses its
own
clipboard instead of the standard Windows one, so you still have to put
it
in a Window to copy & paste between it and another Win program.

5. You won't have any problem running either on an old 486 with 33mhz.
That will not support Win95, but (with at least 16MB RAM) it is adequate
for Win for Workgroups 3.11 (don't forget the upgrade patch).

To sum up, if none of the exotic advantages outlined above intrigues
you, and you really just use the program for writing text, XY4 for DOS
is all you need. If you want to explore a large new array of
possibilities, you will find XW perfectly usable for everyday writing as
well.

Cheers,
--
Nathan Sivin
History and Sociology of Science
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia PA 19104-6304
(215) 898-7454
nsivin@xxxxxxxx